Blueprint for Branding

BDN fields a lot of questions about branding, and that’s what inspired this month’s series. If you’ve already determined that you have a branding problem, this blog is for you. Here we outline a process for branding and walk you through what’s required to create or revamp your aerospace business brand strategy.

Identify and Understand

You’ll need to conduct research in three key focus areas to gather the insights, data and intelligence that will inform your brand strategy.

Focus: Industry and Markets

Identify relevant trends and opportunities in the industry – it will help ensure that your branding choices are in line with market realities

Scope your market by size and segments

Tip: To keep your branding project on track, make sure you understand both company goals and sales goals, and how the brand will support them.

Focus: Customers

Identify existing and potential targets

Assess levels of awareness of you and your competition

Understand perceptions of you and your competition

Find out what customers need and value

Uncover their pain points

Tip: Ask questions about the decision-making and buying process. Where do your customers get information? How do they research products? What factors most influence their buying decisions?

Focus: Competition

Identify key competitors

Determine relative market share

Define their products and services as they relate to yours

Assess their brand identity and messaging

Tip: Does everyone’s messaging sound the same? Do visual identities seem similar? This is a great opportunity to look and sound different.

Once all information has been gathered, analyze and synthesize what you have learned and refer to it in making these upcoming critical brand decisions.

Develop Brand Strategy

Your brand strategy helps establish your company’s best possible position in the market. Think of it as your aerospace and defense sweet spot.

Focus: Positioning

Above all else, what one thing do you want to be known for?

Tip: Resist the temptation to try and be everything to everyone. It dilutes the brand you are working so hard to create.

Focus: Differentiation

What one thing really makes you different? How do you add and deliver value to your customers?

Tip: This needs to be more than lip service about “quality” or “passion.” Everyone has those messages. This statement needs to capture the essence of what make you different than every other provider.

Now you begin the process of creatively translating everything you’ve learned so far. All-too-often this is where branding initiatives begin and end. But shortchanging initial steps in the process will leave you with a brand that lacks substance and meaning.

Define the Brand

Making sure that your definition aligns with your prospects’ needs, preferences and pain points, detail how you want to be perceived and how you want people to feel, think and talk about you.

Focus: Architecture

Are you a house of brands? A branded house? Or something else? What are the elements of your brand and how do they all work together?

Tip: Keep your structure simple and memorable. Too many companies create brand confusion by naming and designing logos for everything under the sun.

Focus: Personality

What is your voice and overall sensibility? Is it highly technical? Or is it something more human? Lofty and formal? Or down to earth and approachable?

From your logo and color palette to your fonts and photos, what does your brand look like?

Tip: Start with a mood board and get incremental buy-in from a few key stakeholders. Always move the discussion away from subjective opinions, have a solid rationale to back your recommendations and stay focused on the real audience.

Focus: Culture

This is all about your company's core values and how you live and breathe the brand internally.

How will the brand manifest within your company? What are expectations for employee performance and behavior?